Katrina Domingo, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/nation2/06/06/20160606-davao-sex-3.jpg"/><figcaption><div class="embed-desc">FREELANCING. A pimp waits for their usual patrons at &quot;Bangko Sentral Gilid&quot;. Prostitutes in Davao City get free sexually-transmitted disease screening, condoms, and lubricants as long as they register with the city health department under Mayor Rody Duterte&#x27;s watch.<em> Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News</em></div></figcaption></figure></div><p>DAVAO CITY – A pimp prepares her six wards in short dresses for the night&#x27;s work on a dimly-lit street here, confident that despite conservative scorn, their mayor, who will be president in less than a month, is looking after their welfare.</p><p>Around 600 prostitutes in this southern metropolis ruled by President-elect Rodrigo Duterte for over two decades get free sexually-transmitted disease (STD) screening, condoms, and lubricants as long as they register with the city health department and get their pink identification cards.</p><p>Just days after Congress affirmed his win, Duterte checked on a group of sex workers to make sure that no one was threatening them and that they were getting regular check-ups, said 40-year-old pimp “Marie,” a retired streetwalker.</p><p>“He doesn&#x27;t want people fooling us. But he also tells us to behave. Even if we have this job, we have to remain clean. It&#x27;s fair play,” Marie told ABS-CBN News.</p><p>Marie, who declined to give her real name, waited for customers under a lamp post beside the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) building in Davao City, which she said was a common pick-up point for prostitutes. At night, the financial hub is simply known as “Bangko Sentral gilid,” she said.</p><script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1/jquery.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script src="~/CMSPages/GetResource.ashx?scriptfile=~/cmsscripts/custom/abs-cbn-news/abscbnmaster/newsv2-1.2.9.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script><div id="galleria"><a href="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/nation2/06/06/20160606-davao-sex-1.jpg"><img data-description="Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News" data-title="READY FOR WORK. Some of the sex workers in Davao say well-kept nails, shaved legs, and high platform shoes are must-haves in enticing customers." src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/nation2/06/06/20160606-davao-sex-1.jpg"/> </a> <a href="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/nation2/06/06/20160606-davao-sex-2.jpg"> <img at="" bangko="" data-description="Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News" data-title="MAMA-SAN. A pimp or a &quot;mama-san" oversees="" sentral="" sex="" src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/nation2/06/06/20160606-davao-sex-2.jpg" the="" trade=""/> </a> <a href="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/nation2/06/06/20160606-davao-sex-3.jpg"> <img data-description="Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News" data-title="FREELANCING. A pimp waits for their usual patrons at &quot;Bangko Sentral Gilid&quot;." src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/nation2/06/06/20160606-davao-sex-3.jpg"/> </a> <a href="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/nation2/06/06/20160606-davao-sex-4.jpg"> <img data-description="Katrina Domingo, ABS-CBN News" data-title="" HEALTH="" Health="" IDs="" are="" issued="" to="" men="" and="" women="" who="" work="" in="" industry="" that="" involves="" physical="" src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/nation2/06/06/20160606-davao-sex-4.jpg"/> </a> <a href="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/nation2/06/06/20160606-davao-sex-5.jpg"> <img data-description="Katrina Domingo, ABS-CBN News" data-title="PINK CARD. Davao" s="" contains="" a="" sex="" personal="" information="" in="" and="" his="" or="" her="" check="" up="" records="" at="" the="" src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/nation2/06/06/20160606-davao-sex-5.jpg"/> </a> <a href="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/nation2/06/06/20160606-davao-sex-6.jpg"> <img data-description="Katrina Domingo, ABS-CBN News" data-title="PINK CARD. Davao" s="" contains="" a="" sex="" personal="" information="" in="" and="" his="" or="" her="" check="" up="" records="" at="" the="" src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/nation2/06/06/20160606-davao-sex-6.jpg"/> </a> <a href="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/nation2/06/06/20160606-davao-sex-7.jpg"> <img data-description="Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News" data-title="PROTECTION. Joined by their pimp, competition seldom ensues betweenthe girls because they are made cooperate with each other." src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/nation2/06/06/20160606-davao-sex-7.jpg"/> </a> <a href="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/nation2/06/06/20160606-davao-sex-8.jpg"> <img data-description="Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News" data-title="NEIGHBORHOOD. Residents in the neighborhood pass by the area well known as a pick-up place for prostitutes." src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/nation2/06/06/20160606-davao-sex-8.jpg"/> </a> <a href="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/nation2/06/06/20160606-davao-sex-9.jpg"> <img data-description="Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News" data-title="IN THE GROOVE. A prostitute known as " plays="" with="" her="" hair="" while="" waiting="" for="" customers.="" as="" a="" tricycle="" passes="" by.="" Clients="" here="" do="" not="" come="" in="" they="" just="" send="" their="" negotiators="" who="" pick="" up="" the="" girls="" tricycles="" to="" bring="" them="" nearby="" src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/nation2/06/06/20160606-davao-sex-9.jpg"/> </a> <a href="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/nation2/06/06/20160606-davao-sex-10.jpg"> <img data-description="Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News" data-title="NEGOTIATION. The pimps negotiate with their customers further away where the street lights are brighter." src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/nation2/06/06/20160606-davao-sex-10.jpg"/> </a> <a href="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/nation2/06/06/20160606-davao-sex-11.jpg"> <img data-description="Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News" data-title="WAY HOME. A mother and her child on their way home pass by the road shared with the sex workers." src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/nation2/06/06/20160606-davao-sex-11.jpg"/> </a></div><script type="text/javascript">Galleria.loadTheme('//abscbnnewsml.blob.core.windows.net/themes/default-gallery/themes/themev2/galleria.azur.min.js');Galleria.run('#galleria', {trueFullscreen: true, height: 486,});	</script><div><strong>PINK CARDS</strong></div><p>The pink cards are the sex workers&#x27; tickets to free health services.</p><p>The city&#x27;s Reproductive Health and Wellness Center has registered 600 women working inside night clubs and 14 others walking the streets as “freelancers.”</p><p>The “freelancers” get free tests for STD twice a month. The rest who work in clubs and massage parlors that offer “extra service” pay P105 for the same service.</p><p>According to women&#x27;s group Talikala-Davao, there are as many as 4,000 prostitutes in the city.</p><p>“Prostitution is an economic issue. Whether or not we set up a program like this, it will continue,” district nurse Mark Claudio told ABS-CBN News.</p><p>“Instead of just letting them be, at least we should help become aware of their health to stop the possible spread of disease,” he said.</p><p>The tough-talking 71-year-old mayor regularly hosts Christmas parties for the city&#x27;s sex workers and other marginalized groups such as the disabled and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT), Marie said.</p><p>Duterte raffles off dozens of flat-screen TV sets, cellphones, and electric fans for the party-goers, she said.</p><div><strong>CONDONING SIN</strong></div><p>However, Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz said state assistance for sex workers would only serve to condone the trade.</p><p>While red light districts thrive,  prostitution remains taboo in the predominantly Catholic Philippines.</p><p>“If you provide benefits, what you are really doing is approving of prostitution,” Cruz told ABS-CBN News.</p><p>Government should instead provide the poor with free education and start-up capital to keep young women away from flesh trade syndicates, he added.</p><p>Under the Women’s Development Code of Davao City, prostitution is “recognized as a violation of human rights and exploitation of women to have no real choices for survival.”</p><p>However, the same charter mandates that prostitutes be given “socio-economic support services for women in the entertainment industry.”</p><p>And under this set-up initiated by Duterte, sex workers here feel protected, Marie, the pimp, said.</p><p>“He said we deserve help because we are the ones who lost our way,” she said.</p>

According to women's group Talikala-Davao, there are as many as 4,000 prostitutes in the city.

Sex workers get care, not condemnation, from Duterte

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Sex workers get care, not condemnation, from Duterte

Katrina Domingo,

ABS-CBN News

Published June 06, 2016 09:24 PM PHT

|

Updated June 06, 2016 11:27 PM PHT

Read More:

Sex workers

Duterte

prostitution

health

STD

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